1 Peter 2:1-3 ESV
“So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
We read in 1 Peter 1 that, as obedient children, we are not
to be conformed to the passions of our former ignorance from before we knew
Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior of our lives. But as our Lord has called us
to be holy, we are to be holy in all our conduct. And having purified our souls
by our obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, we are to love one
another earnestly from a pure heart.
So, we are being taught here that we are to be obedient to
our Lord, that we are not to be conformed to the passions of the flesh, and
that we are to be holy (unlike the world and like Christ) in all our conduct. Then
we are instructed to put away all malice, deceit, and hypocrisy, etc. And we
are to long for the pure word of God so that we may grow up and mature into
salvation. And this is the essence of the gospel of our salvation.
We are not saved from our sins and bound for heaven on a
mere profession of faith in Jesus Christ, or by words we may repeat after
someone else in a prayer after which we are congratulated that we are now part
of God’s family and that heaven is now guaranteed us for when we die. No! We
must be crucified with Christ in death to sin and then we must continue to put
sin to death and to walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands.
So, you can’t be saved from your sins and be on your way to
heaven if you are still holding on to your sinful practices (habits) and if sin
has not been put to death in your life so that you can now live as slaves of
righteousness in walks of obedient faith in Jesus Christ. We need to put all
sins to death with Christ and then grow in our walks of faith through feeding
on the word of God and via obeying the teachings of Scripture which are for us
to obey.
1 Peter 2:4-5 ESV
“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
The church is not a building. It is not a church
denomination. It is not a business nor a corporation under the state (the
government). Yet, that is what many who claim to be followers of Jesus have
made it to be. So, when you walk into a church building you are not entering
the house of God. For God the Father/Jesus/the Spirit live within the hearts
and lives of those who are following Jesus Christ with their lives in obedient
walks of faith.
The church is not something that can be built with human
hands nor organized and developed with human business goals and marketing
schemes. They may call it “church,” but that doesn’t make it the church. For
the church is all people who are walking in fellowship with God in purity of
devotion to him who have died with Christ to sin and who are living to God and
to his righteousness by God’s grace and in his power and strength.
We are living stones in God’s building, which is spiritual,
not physical (not brick and mortar). And we are being built up (brought to
maturity) as a spiritual house (not a physical one) to be a holy priesthood,
separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are being made into the
likeness of Christ. And we offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God which
are our lives as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God (Rom 12:1-2).
1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
We are not chosen by God just to have our sins forgiven so
that we can one day go to heaven. We are chosen by God to be his possession. He
now owns us. He is our Lord (owner-master), and we now are to surrender our
lives to him and to submit to his will for our lives and to obey his commands
as a matter of our life practice. And we are to be those who are spreading the
good news of our deliverance from sin and of our walks of faith in the truth.
1 Peter 2:11-12 ESV
“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”
We are to no longer be partakers in the pleasures of this
sinful world for our Lord called us out of the world to be separate, unlike the
world because we are being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. So that
makes us sojourners (strangers, visitors) on this earth and heaven is now our
home. And so we are to live our lives as though heaven is our home and as
though we are no longer a part of this sinful world.
Therefore, we are to abstain from the passions of the flesh
which wage war against our souls. For God’s grace, which brings us salvation,
instructs (trains, teaches) us to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts
and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our
Lord’s return. And we are to walk in obedience to our Lord in obeying his
teachings and in going wherever he sends us and in doing whatever he has called
us to do.
Our conduct is to be honorable always, and not just when
others are watching us. This is for our salvation. But also when we live
honorably, in obedience to our Lord, when the ungodly speak against us as
though we are evildoers, they should be able to see our godly behavior and it
should stand as a witness to them and it should encourage them to want to know
Jesus and to follow him in obedience, too.
Basically, the Christian life is not just a free ride to
heaven. Yes, Jesus paid it all. His grace is God’s gift to us. We can do
nothing in ourselves to earn or to deserve our own salvation. But Jesus died
that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. So,
if we continue to live in sin, deliberately and habitually sinning against our
Lord, we don’t know him, and heaven is not our eternal destiny. So, please take
this to heart.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn
15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1
Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Matt 7:21-23; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn
1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10]
The Prayer
Written by David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager,
Alberto Testa and Tony Renis
I pray you'll be our eyes
And watch us where we go
And help us to be wise
In times when we don't know
Let this be our prayer
When we lose our way
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe.
I pray we'll find your light
And hold it in our hearts
When the stars go out each night
Remind us where you are.
Let this be our prayer
When shadows fill our day
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqFCbtRz1Z0
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P.S. This is not an endorsement of the singers other than as
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